The Lost Son
by sylar1610
Summary: Ever wonder what happened to Iroh's son. Ever wonder about Iroh's trip to the Spirit World.Read and find out
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender. If i did .Shyamalan would not be directing the live action movie.

The Lost Son

Lu Ten and his soldiers were searching the forest for any Earth Kingdom rebels. 'You two, check the east, you two, check the south' he commanded. 'Yes sir' they replied and headed off leaving Lu Ten alone. He began searchin the forest. He was very proud to be serving his nation in the war, especially under the command of the great General Iroh his father and soon to be Fire Lord as soon as his grandfather Azulon dies.

As he searched the forest he thought of his family. Of his father who looked up to and hope to make proud by being a man just as great as him, of his grandfather the cruel tyrant he was and how great the world would be once he was dead and the Fire Nation and soon the rest of the world was ruled by his father, he would be the greatest Fire Lord who ever ruled and then he would be Fire Lord. His mother, who died many years ago. Finally he thought of his uncle Ozai, who was always jealous and bitter over his father being born first and being the heir to the throne. His cousin Azula was just as bad, she was only a child and yet he had more of a killer instinct then nearly all of the soldiers in the army at siege at Ba Sing Se. Despite his father's fame Lu Ten did not have the same killer instinct as the rest of his family, he did not like to take a life and tried not to do it unless in self defense. That was such an Airbender thing to believe but still he believed it.

He shared this trait with his cousin Zuko, he was just to kind and gentle, some time he wonder how Azula and Zuko could even be family when they were so different, they were like night and day, fire and water, yin and yang. However Lu Ten managed to hide his mercy from other people or maybe his father had some thing to do with it, either way he did not get the same level of dislike that Zuko got from his father. This showed that Iroh was a better man than Ozai coud ever hope to be. It's a good thing that Zuko's mother loves him so much.

As he walked through the forest keeping his eyes open for rebels he noticed something strange. In front of him was something strange, it looked like a mirage. he move forward to examine it and suddenly the forest surrounding him disappeared. He found himself on a rock surrounded by a vest expanse of sky. In front of him was a giant tree, as he looked closer at the tree he wondered where on was he. he saw what looked like a opening in the roots of the tree that led to a cave.

Seeing no other choice he went into the cave. He went down a flight of stairs into a great darkness where the only light came from the opening he came through. Well, Hello it been so long since I've had guests' came a voice from the darkness. 'Who said that' he asked surprised. 'Me' the voice said. 'And who are you' Lu Ten asked. 'I prefer to keep my name a secret' the voice said. 'Very well then where am i' he asked annoyed. 'You are in my home, the land of spirits' the voice replied. 'You mean the spirit world' he asked. 'Of course' the voice replied.

'Then how did i get here?' he asked 'I thought only the Avatar could enter the Spirit World'. 'Usually but not always, powerful spirits can open doorways between the two worlds, and in someplaces in your world their are weak points between the wall that divide our two worlds, perhaps you came in through one of those weakpoints, sometime they occur in random places at random time for a few days, very few are permanent.

'How do I get back' he asked the mysterious creature. 'Simple, just find another weak point, the one you came through should still be there' the voice said. Overjoy at hearing this Lu Ten said 'Thank you' and began to walk towards the opening but stopped when the voice said 'Stop, I want to show you my face'. He heard a voice whisper in his ear 'Run'. He batted his ear and a small creature like a firefly flew away.

He heard a cripping sound and then heard the voice say from behind him 'Turn around'. He turned around and looked in horror at the source of the voice. It was a monstrous creature, it had the body of a centipede and a white mask like face. It smiled at the look of horror on Lu Ten face and said 'Never trust Koh the Face Stealer'. It face was then cover with an eyelid like thing and then it open it eyelid to reveal it new face, Lu Ten's face.

Without his face Lu Ten became one of the Faceless, victims of Koh who are doomed to wander the Spirit Realm aimlessly forever without identity, without knowledge of who they are, it is a fate worse then death, for they is no end to it and you have no will, no thought, just nothing.


	2. A Father's Quest

A Father's Quest

Two days after Lu Ten's disappearence and Iroh was terrified. His son was missing, his only son. He could have been capture by rebels or killed. he knew he had to find him. To hell with the siege of Ba Sing Se.

'General Iroh' said a soldier. 'Yes' he replied. 'We have report on where Lu Ten was last seen'. 'Where?' he asked. 'In the forest two miles east of here' he reported. 'Very well' Iroh said 'I'm going to find my son'. 'Sir I suggest you bring back up' the soldier said. 'I'M GOING TO FING MY SON AND I'M GOING ALONE 'he shouted.

He left the camp a headed east to the forest were his son was last spotted. He knew their would be hell to pay for abandoning his post but he didn't care all that mattered to him was saving his son. As he got to the forest he thought 'I'll find my son even if i have to burn this entire forets to the ground'.

He spent hours searching the forest and calling his son's name until his voice was hoarse but to no avail. It was getting dark and he was about to camp for the night but he saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was like a mirage, he walked slowly towards it with great caution.

When he got to it the envirnment around him changed. He was no longer in a forest but a swamp. It was the strangest place he had ever seen. He looked around and saw a monkey meditating on a rock. It looked far more intelligent they any monkey Iroh had ever seen. He walked up to it.

It opened it's eyes and said 'Go away'. It return to it's meditation when Iroh interrupted by saying 'Have you seen my son'. 'Go away' it said rudely and tried hard to ignore Iroh. 'Where am I?' he asked. The monkey open his eyes and looked around and point to a little firefly like creature and said 'Ask that light'.

Iroh realising the monkey was going to be no help whatsoever followed the light and it led him to a a cave. The light disappeared and suddenly a deep voice spoke 'Who is it' . 'General Iroh of the Fire Nation, the Dragon of the West' he replied. 'A dragon, then you and i should get on just fine' the voice said before laughing.

Iroh heard a sound as if something big was coming towards him and he ran out of the cave. Once outside the cave he saw the source of the voice and understood what it had ment by getting along with a dragon. For the creature he had been speaking to was a dragon. It came out of the cave a must have been a 100 feet big. Iroh tried firebending but it didn't work.

'You fool, the bending arts don't work in the Spirit World' the dragon said. Realising where he was Iroh asked 'Who are you?'. 'I am the First' it said. 'The first what' Iroh replied. 'The First Dragon' it said 'Why are you here Iroh of the Fire Nation'

'Please I have come looking for my son, I believe that he may be here' he said. 'Your quest is in vein, for your son is already lost' the dragon said. 'No, that can't be true' Iroh said in shock. He is one of the many victims of Koh the Face Stealer , an ancient and malevalent spirit with the ability to steal a person face' it explained.0

'No your lying' Iroh shouting hoping it was not true 'Where is my son'. 'I can show you him but by warned you will not like what you see' it said. 'Take me to my son' he demanded. The dragon lowered it neck and allowed Iroh to climb on him and took flight.

The dragon took Iroh to a canyon fill with mist and darkness. 'This is the valley of the lost, a place where those who forget who they are or lose their identity are forced to wander for all eternity' the dragon said.

Iroh began to search through the crowd of faceless strangers until he saw a person in Lu Ten's armor with his back turned. 'My son' Iroh yelled as he ran towards the figure and grabbed his shoulder to turn him around.

When he turn the person around he saw the horrifying truth, the person was his son Lu Ten because he was wearing the ruby gragon ring, a royal artifact from the royal family, but the person face was gone, their was nothing only blankness. The dragon was telling the truth.

'I'm sorry' he heard the dragon say as he began to cry over the lose of his son. The grief was to much, he wanted to find the monster that did this his son and turn it into a pile of ash but he knew he would die in the process but his bending didn't work in the spirit world.

He ran off, in no particular direction, the dragon did not follow him. He wander the Spirit World for what seemed like forever. Finally after much wandering he fell to his knee and buried his face in his hands. 'How can I go on without my son' he cried.

'You think you are the only one who has ever lost a loved one' he heard a voice say. 'Who said that' he said. He looked up and saw the leaves from the trees had blown off and come together to form a person shape creature. Suddenly the leaf shape was replaced by the real person. It was someone had heard about.

'Avatar Roku' he proclaimed. 'Do you think you are the only person who have ever felt grief' he asked. 'No but' he began but was interrupted. 'In the last 90 years, the grief of the world has been nearly endless, and your family is the cause of all that grief' he said placing his hand on Iroh's forehead.

Roku's eyes began to glows and Iroh could see and feel all the suffer of all the nation over the war, Roku was right the grief was nearly endless, the pain Iroh felt over his son was nothing compared to this, the pain his nation cause, the pain his family caused, the pain he caused. When it was over Iroh was bent double on the ground.

He got up and said 'I understand now, I'm a monster, give me what I deserve'. He readied himself for death but to his suprise Roku said 'You misunderstand, I did not come here to kill you, but to show you the truth, do you know what it is'. 'Yes' he said 'This war is wrong and my nation is wrong, I don't want to destroy the other nation, I want to learn from them, but how can I go on without my son'

Roku put his hand on Iroh's shoulder and said 'Very soon in the mortal world, their will be a person who will need, he will need you to teach, to guide him and to show him the truth about his destiny'. This gave Iroh the strength he needed. 'How do I get back' he asked. 'Close your eyes' Roku said. Iroh did so and suddenly he felt as if he was falling.

'General Iroh' he heard a voice say. He woke up in the forest where he entered the Spirit World and saw his soldiers. 'General Iroh are you Okay?' he asked. 'Yes' he said. 'We're awaiting your orders sir, we haven't been able to breach Ba Sing Se yet'

'Pack up, were leaving' he said. When they got back to camp he shouted 'Men pack up, were going back to are wives and children'. The soldiers were confused and some even though Iroh had lost his mind. Other were overjoy at the Idea of seeing their families again.

Before leaving a soldier came up to Iroh and said 'Sir which all due respect, why are we leaving'. Iroh smiled and said 'I just buried my son, before you found me, we are leaving because after 600 days of laying siege to Ba Sing Se I am tried and I know for a fact that the men are tried too'.


End file.
